Only Him
by Veritas Found
Summary: They had come to destroy everything, yet in the end all they had managed to destroy was him. [For word 18 in the Fifteen Minute Fic comm.]


**Title:** "Only Him"

**Author:** Wish Wielder

**Fandom:** Doctor Who

**Claim / Pairing / Character Focus:** Doctor (Ten/Rose implications)

**Challenge:** 15 Minute Fic

**Theme / Prompt:** Word #18 (Destroy)

**Word Count:** 649

**Rating:** K/ PG

**Summary:** They had come to destroy everything, yet in the end all they had managed to destroy was him.

**Notes:** Spoilers for "Doomsday"; set right after the Doctor's projection cuts out while saying goodbye to Rose (while he's walking around the TARDIS console).

**Disclaimer:** "Doctor Who" and all respective properties are © the BBC. Meg D. (Wish Wielder) does not, has never, nor will ever own "Doctor Who".

"_**Only Him"**_

They came to destroy everything. They walked through the void – Hell itself – with that sole purpose in mind.

And then the others came, emerging from the sphere with the same intentions. But unlike the others, they viewed everything as the enemy – even the previous invaders.

Between the two – Dalek and Cybermen – they had almost succeeded. If not for the Pete Tyler of the Parallel Earth – if not for the parallel Torchwood and their dimension-hopping gizmos – they probably would have. But they hadn't counted on the upset, had they? They hadn't counted on him being there. It was like she had told their leader: "Five million Cybermen. Easy. One Doctor? Now you're scared." And they had every right to be.

They came with guns blazing, war cries streaming from their metallic lips as they set about to destroy everything. And he had stood in their way, using the background radiation they had attached to them to suck them back into hell itself. It had worked, too – but at a price.

They had killed countless numbers of people. They had destroyed millions in property, and everyone who had survived the battle would have its haunting memories for a lifetime. But all in all, their goals had failed. The Cybermen had not assimilated the human race, and the Daleks had not annihilated them. In the big picture, nothing was destroyed.

So why did he feel like everything was?

As he stood there, circling the main console of the TARDIS, his mind forced itself back to the past few minutes. It had only been a minute or so since his projection had cut out. The final tear in the universe sealed itself, and he had been left standing there, his final goodbye still on his lips.

Rose Tyler was dead in his world, but alive in Parallel Earth. She wasn't dead – not really. So why did he feel horrible? Why couldn't he be happy for that one simple fact?

She had chosen to stay behind with him. She had told him forever, and she had every intention of keeping it. But when the lever had slipped, and she had let go of her anchor with the sole purpose of pulling it back, she had inadvertently broken that promise. She had held on as long as she could, but in the end the pull had been too strong. She had slipped, and he hadn't realized he was screaming until his voice broke over the roar. But Pete had showed up at just the right moment, and he had managed to take her away, back to safety. And she had survived where she would have died. He should be happy for that.

But he had gone to say goodbye, burning up a sun in the process. She had told him what a part of him had always known – that she loved him. And he had tried his damnedest to get it out, but no sooner had he said her name then the tear had sealed, and he was left in the TARDIS, a broken "I" choking from his throat.

Rose was alive. Rose wasn't destroyed that day, though so much had been. Why couldn't he be happy with that?

Because, he knew – even as the words were rolling over and over in his mind – that he loved her. He couldn't be happy unless she was there, and that scared him to death.

The Cybermen and Daleks had come with the sole purpose of destroying everything in their path.

In the end, the only thing they had managed to destroy – and maybe, in some way, it was the most important thing they could have – was him.

He looked up from the console, trying to push his mind past the numbing loss clawing at his soul. And then he saw her, a veiled woman in nothing but white, standing in the middle of his TARDIS.

"What?"

A.n.: _Word was "destroy". With my current Doctor Who fix, the word just screamed this._


End file.
